Giant Semaglutide Thread (and other GLP-1 / GIP agonists)

[Doodle]

Wanted to create a thread where everyone can post their experiences with different sourced Semaglutide.

Who are you using?
Pharma vs non?
Dosage?
How long have you been taking it?
What are your thoughts?
Have you lost weight?
Side effects?
Oral vs injection?
Tests?

 

[Ryu82]

That should make lots of cheap, genuine Tirz available shortly after.

Even pricing from Lily Japan is not bad already.

Ziska Tizaro from Bangladesh is about half of the Japanese pens and runs about 50USD a 7.5mg dart.

As you said, the more its made available in lower income countries the better pricing people will start to see for pharma.

 

[IronMetal_2]

I switched to ozempic a couple weeks ago and am doing fine on it.
@Ghoul or others: Compared to tirzepatide, I no longer get hypo episodes. Why is it that I kept getting low blood sugar on tirz despite being on adequate calories and carbs on a relatively low dose (3,75 mg / Week)? My A1c started to get too low for my liking (4,4% (4,7% - 5,7% lab range).

Hypo episodes are rarely seen in clinical trials and mostly only in combination with other anti diabetic drugs. At first, I tolerated tirzepatide with almost no side effects but over time I noticed random anxious episodes and sure enough It was mostly blood sugar related.

 

[Ghoul]

I switched to ozempic a couple weeks ago and am doing fine on it.
@Ghoul or others: Compared to tirzepatide, I no longer get hypo episodes. Why is it that I kept getting low blood sugar on tirz despite being on adequate calories and carbs on a relatively low dose (3,75 mg / Week)? My A1c started to get too low for my liking (4,4% (4,7% - 5,7% lab range).

Hypo episodes are rarely seen in clinical trials and mostly only in combination with other anti diabetic drugs. At first, I tolerated tirzepatide with almost no side effects but over time I noticed random anxious episodes and sure enough It was mostly blood sugar related.

What was your injection volume?

 

[IronMetal_2]

What was your injection volume?

lower than recommended. I was using the 5mg mounjaro pen at the time which has 5mg/0.6ml, so 0.45ml it was for my dose.

 

[JK1]

Fair enough.

I've used both UGL and Pharma Tirz, going back and forth a couple of times, and they're quite different.

Different as in pharma better , ugl worse?

 

[OldGHGuy]

Different as in pharma better , ugl worse?

Idk - I'm a hyper-responder but I'm losing about a pound a day on UGL Tirz right now at 2.5 mg with virtually no sides

 

[Ghoul]

Different as in pharma better , ugl worse?

Pharma stronger at the same dose. It "feels" like 25% or more. Switching from 20mg UGL to 15mg wasn't the diminished experience I expected, but was a little unpleasant in its strength.

Pharma has a longer effective half life. UGL noticeable (but manageable) appetite rebound by end of day 4, pharma not until day 6.

The UGL/Pharma difference is much more pronounced with Tirz than it was with Sema, for me.

 

[Nidus]

Pharma stronger at the same dose. It "feels" like 25% or more. Switching from 20mg UGL to 15mg wasn't the diminished experience I expected, but was a little unpleasant in its strength.

Pharma has a longer effective half life. UGL noticeable (but manageable) appetite rebound by end of day 4, pharma not until day 6.

The UGL/Pharma difference is much more pronounced with Tirz than it was with Sema, for me.

Can totally relate to this!

Day 5-7, my food noise returns and thats also been the last few days where i cheated and had ice cream lmao

Gonna swap 10mg Tirza to e5d.

 

[JK1]

Idk - I'm a hyper-responder but I'm losing about a pound a day on UGL Tirz right now at 2.5 mg with virtually no sides

That incredible. How long have you been on for?

 

[JK1]

Pharma stronger at the same dose. It "feels" like 25% or more. Switching from 20mg UGL to 15mg wasn't the diminished experience I expected, but was a little unpleasant in its strength.

Pharma has a longer effective half life. UGL noticeable (but manageable) appetite rebound by end of day 4, pharma not until day 6.

The UGL/Pharma difference is much more pronounced with Tirz than it was with Sema, for me.

Really interesting. Thanks. Were you dosing every 5 days on UGL?

 

[Ghoul]

Really interesting. Thanks. Were you dosing every 5 days on UGL?

No. I strongly suspect UGL induces far higher levels of immunogenicity than pharma, and I didn't want to risk developing long term insensitivity to this class of meds, or even worse, high levels of antibodies to natural GLP or GIP.

Limited FDA testing showed immune response was hundreds, in one case 2000 times stronger from knockoffs than the pharma produced GLPs.

Once a week dosing helps minimize that risk, vs more frequent injections.

 

[JK1]

Hey @Luke391 15mg vials of Tirzepatide may be the better choice (vs 20mg vials) as you are starting out with the 2.5mg dose.

Keeping the reconstituted vial in refrigerated storage may help the most with preserving its potency. Along with using a quality brand of bacteriostatic water for reconstituting.

@PiscesMoon is your recommendation here for the 15mg vial vs 20 more to do with using up the vial in good time?

 

[JK1]

No. I strongly suspect UGL induces far higher levels of immunogenicity than pharma, and I didn't want to risk developing long term insensitivity to this class of meds, or even worse, high levels of antibodies to natural GLP or GIP.

Limited FDA testing showed immune response was hundreds, in one case 2000 times stronger from knockoffs than the pharma produced GLPs.

Once a week dosing helps minimize that risk, vs more frequent injections.

That’s great info.

Perhaps not surprising.

 

[Ghoul]

That’s great info.

Perhaps not surprising.

Another FDA datapoint was that after .22um filtration, the 2000x GLP immune response was reduced by over 80%. So whatever impurities were being removed, particulate trash or large aggregates, the filtration improved the safety profile by quite a bit. Filtering made almost no difference with the pharma produced GLP's, so that was quite telling as well,

 

[PiscesMoon]

@PiscesMoon is your recommendation here for the 15mg vial vs 20 more to do with using up the vial in good time?

Hey @JK1 Yes, recommendation for the Tirzepatide 15mg vial (VS 20mg vial) is because of the starting dose @ 2.5mg per week, and using the vial in good time.

6 weeks from one vial is a fair stretch of time to re use once reconstituted.

Repeated puncture may add to wear and tear of the vial's rubber stopper, unless taking extra steps like with a vial spike.

Plus the amount of bacteriostatic water per dose may be less than ideal.

(Compared to dosing at 5mg/7.5/10mg etc per week out of a 15mg vial)

 

[Sampei]

Hey @JK1 Yes, recommendation for the Tirzepatide 15mg vial (VS 20mg vial) is because of the starting dose @ 2.5mg per week, and using the vial in good time.

6 weeks from one vial is a fair stretch of time to re use once reconstituted.

Repeated puncture may add to wear and tear of the vial's rubber stopper, unless taking extra steps like with a vial spike.

Plus the amount of bacteriostatic water per dose may be less than ideal.

(Compared to dosing at 5mg/7.5/10mg etc per week out of a 15mg vial)

You can use a tirzepatide vial up to 3 months or more without any noticeable degradation.

You can even reconstitute and freeze the vial after reconstitution and thaw and freeze again multiple time without no noticeable degradation.

Tirzepatide can whitstand a nuclear attack

 

[SubparMarioBro]

No. I strongly suspect UGL induces far higher levels of immunogenicity than pharma, and I didn't want to risk developing long term insensitivity to this class of meds, or even worse, high levels of antibodies to natural GLP or GIP.

Limited FDA testing showed immune response was hundreds, in one case 2000 times stronger from knockoffs than the pharma produced GLPs.

Once a week dosing helps minimize that risk, vs more frequent injections.

I know you’ve produced a chart showing that several times. Is there any chance you have a source for that? I’ve tried to look for it without much success.

 

[Ghoul]

I know you’ve produced a chart showing that several times. Is there any chance you have a source for that? I’ve tried to look for it without much success.

https://www.fda.gov/media/183017/download

October 29, 2024: Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee Meeting

This meeting is scheduled to start at approximately 8 a.m. Eastern Time and will be held at FDA White Oak Campus.

www.fda.gov

 

[PiscesMoon]

You can use a tirzepatide vial up to 3 months or more without any noticeable degradation.

You can even reconstitute and freeze the vial after reconstitution and thaw and freeze again multiple time without no noticeable degradation.

Tirzepatide can whitstand a nuclear attack

O rly :0 Thanks for mentioning the freezing/thawing with a reconstituted vial of Tirzepatide, I am uninformed about that being a thing. Catching up & reading more about it now. Cheers

 

[Ghoul]

You can use a tirzepatide vial up to 3 months or more without any noticeable degradation.

You can even reconstitute and freeze the vial after reconstitution and thaw and freeze again multiple time without no noticeable degradation.

Tirzepatide can whitstand a nuclear attack

Where does this come from?

Is this something unique to Tirzapetide, because it goes against everything we know about breaking down peptides.